Two previous blog posts have looked at some of the legal terms you are likely to encounter as you commence upon divorce proceedings. Whilst financial matters are no longer tied up in the divorce itself in England and Wales, it’s still important to feel in control of what might be in store. Here’s the Divorce Faster’s Guide to Jargon-Busting Finances.
Ancillary relief: an old term you may hear, which now refers to financial proceedings or a financial remedy application.
Cash Equivalent Value (CEV): the cash value of rights accrued within a pension scheme.
Charge on property: this works like an extra mortgage, used to provide security when one spouse is waiting for payment via a cash lump sum when there is a delay in the sale of a house.
Chattels: the term given to all personal effects such as house contents and various possessions.
Clean break: a court order disallowing any further financial claims between the spouses in the divorce.
Collaborative law: The basis for cheap online divorces relies on collaborative law – a way of handling child and financial arrangements whereby both the couple and their lawyers agree to work together to negotiate agreements without going to court.
Consent order: an order from the court giving effect to the terms of the settlement which have been agreed.
Child Maintenance Service (CMS): the replacement for the Child Support Agency to ensure payment of maintenance.
Disclosure: a process whereby complete financial details about capital, income, assets and liabilities is either given voluntarily or ordered by the court. It’s the initial step in dealing with finances in divorce.
Duxbury calculation: made to aid decisions as to whether a Clean Break is possible, it takes in to account the level of payment the recipient will need in order to spend the rest of their life at a certain level of expenditure.
Equity: the net value of a property after the mortgages, and other charges, have been paid off.
First Directions Appointment (FDA): the first, largely administrative, step taken in financial cases whereby the judge decides what information is needed to progress the case.
Financial Dispute Resolution (FDR): the second step in the standard procedures for financial resolution, it is an opportunity for both parties to discuss and negotiate, with the help of a judge.
Financial proceedings: a term that is sometimes used to describe the Financial Remedy Application, often court proceedings following a divorce to reapportion both the income and the capital of a family.
Financial remedy application: once known as Ancillary Relief, this is the application that goes to the court for financial orders once the divorce is complete. There are various orders involved, including Lump Sum Orders, Property Adjustment Orders and Pension Sharing Orders.
Form A: the first application form sent to the court when dealing with financial claims.
Form E: the Financial Disclosure form, setting out details of income, capital and assets as well as information about what orders are sought. This is obligatory to complete accurately and honestly.
Former matrimonial home: the home in which you and your spouse were living in before separation.
Lump sum order: a fixed amount of money ordered to be paid from one spouse to the other, either in one go, or in instalments.
Maintenance: the regular payment, following a court order, paid from one spouse to another. It is not the same as Child Maintenance. It may be possible to do in a Lump Sum to ensure a Clean Break is possible.
Maintenance pending suit: an interim application for payments/maintenance, enacted on a temporary basis while financial proceedings progress, sometimes referred to as interim maintenance.
Pension: pensions are likely to play a crucial role in financial settlements, particularly in the case of longer marriages.
Property adjustment order/property transfer order: this is to do with the court’s ability to change who owns an asset, usually in relation to property.
Sale of property order: the court may make an order to follow the sale of a property.
The post Divorce Faster’s Definition Guide to Divorce – Terms Surrounding Finances appeared first on Divorce Faster.
